THE CULT — Ceremony (review)

THE CULT — Ceremony album cover Album · 1991 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Ceremony" is the fifth full-length studio album by UK hard rock act The Cult. The album was released through Beggars Banquet/Sire Records in September 1991. Despite internal turmoil in the band, The Cult had enjoyed great commercial success with the Bob Rock produced "Sonic Temple (1989)" and had toured heavily in the support of the album. The situation between lead vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy had not gotten better though and the climate in the band was so hostile that original bassist Jamie Stewart decided to leave the band in 1990. Rumour has it that the two fighting cocks even travelled in seperate vehicles during touring when possible. Despite of the bad odds Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy however opted to continue with the band and brought in Richie Zito (Poison, Elton John, White Lion, Heart, Bad English...among others) to produce "Ceremony". However their relationship was so bad at this point, that they rarely spend time in the studio together, instead opting to record their parts when the other one wasn´t present in the studio. Drums, bass, choirs and keyboards are played by hired guns.

The music on the album pretty much follow the streamlined anthemic stadion rock formula of "Sonic Temple (1989)" but expands a little on that style. The lyrics and the imagery draws influences from native American culture, which is something the band have done before, but not to this extent. This and the fact that the music sounds very "American" have always puzzled me when in fact the band are British, but at this point in their career they consciously wrote music for the American market. "Ceremony" is a big "classic" hard rock album of the accessible and polished kind, but while there are several great tracks on the album (one is the "hit" "Wild Hearted Son"), not all tracks are equally memorable or interesting. The fact that the album is 63:15 minutes long also kills some of the listening enthusiasm. My attention simply begins to wander during the playing time because the album lacks infectious hook laden choruses, which is a thing "Sonic Temple (1989)" had plenty of.

On the other hand the album is very well produced, well performed, and while the songwriting might be lacking in places, there are still enough well written and memorable tracks to justify a 3.5 star (70%) rating. They took a step down with this one though.
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